Twins right-hander Phil Hughes underwent thoracic outlet syndrome revision surgery on Thursday, tweets Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press. Hughes has been on the 60-day disabled list since July 18 thanks to a recurrence of thoracic outlet syndrome symptoms, but the hope was that he’d avoid having to go under the knife.
This will go down as the second injury-marred campaign in a row for Hughes, who underwent TOS surgery in June 2016. That concluded a rough year for Hughes, who also struggled in his return this season. The 31-year-old tossed 53 2/3 innings before his DL placement and logged a 5.87 ERA, 6.37 K/9 and 2.18 BB/9. And while Hughes has historically had difficulty generating ground balls, he posted a career-low 30.4 percent mark this year.
In all, it has been an ugly stretch for Hughes since what looked like a breakout 2014 campaign for the ex-Yankee. That year, his first with the Twins, Hughes racked up 209 2/3 innings of 3.52 ERA pitching, ranked sixth among starters in FIP (2.65) and set an all-time record with an 11.63 K/BB ratio, striking out 188 hitters and walking only 16. The Twins awarded Hughes an extension after that season, but he has since recorded an unsightly 5.04 ERA in 268 frames. He’s due to make $13.2MM per year through 2019, the last season of his deal.
TOS is like the last frontier in pitching injuries. Very few successes.
TOS is not an injury. It’s a condition that exacerbates arm fatigue. Don’t paint it to be something it’s not.
The point is that it doesn’t appear to be treatable, at least not currently.
MrReit03 just got hostile really quickly. That seems rather pedantic to say it isn’t an injury when it’s caused by repeatedly throwing and is a physical ailment which causes you to be unable to perform. You’re not wrong, but it’s pointless to say that.
Maybe he can transition to be a serviceable reliever. I think that’s where Matt Harvey, who had the same procedure, should go.
Matt Harvey should go to another club. The mets used and abused him through overuse after the first TJ. They should release him and eat the contract so he can find a situation where he can try to rebuild his career with whatever he has left.
Don’t hold your breath on the CHEAP WILPONS doing the right thing.
How is it “the right thing to do” to release a capable young pitcher under contract? It’s a business, not a charity. By your logic, teams should release any backup who might start for another team because it’s wrong to hold a guy back just for the good of your team.
Don’t worry about the money being paid for nothing due to the contract extension, Terry Ryan, who signed Hughes to the extension, is forking over the dough from his retirement package….